ABCD Head Starts fully reopen

BRIDGEPORT — More than two weeks after a federal shutdown forced Action for Bridgeport Community Development to close its federally-funded Head Start program the program fully reopened Tuesday morning thanks to help from the state.

The closure forced the parents of more than 1,000 preschoolers — many of them working minimum-wage jobs — to find other arrangements.

Gov. Dannel Malloy last week announced the state would give the agency $800,000 to tide the agency over through at least mid-November should the shutdown continue. The state money meant ABCD did not have to rely on a gift from a Houston Texas couple that ABCD said came with strings attached.